Kevin Corsello (OPM 45, 2014) was just looking for a hobby when he started Pork & Mindy’s—a competition barbecue team—in 2005. During the workweek, Corsello oversaw his bespoke bicycle shop, Get a Grip, in Chicago. On the weekends, he and his buddies traveled to barbecue festivals around the country, camping out and staying up all night smoking ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. “I’m pretty competitive,” Corsello admits, “so once we started winning, it started to turn into a passion.”

That passion didn’t become a business for Corsello until 2016. The idea had come to him as he drove home from an OPM unit. On the expressway he saw signs for McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. Why, he wondered, was there no barbecue option? At home, he pulled out a white board and began to sketch out Pork & Mindy’s—the fast-casual barbecue brand that will have 65 locations in the West and Midwest by the end of 2019, along with a growing retail line.

On that white board Corsello identified three obstacles. Two were logistical: Barbecue is hard to execute consistently (he knew smoking to be more art than science), and the equipment is costly. To overcome those challenges, he centralized the smoking in a single commissary, where the meats are smoked and flash frozen. The third obstacle was more perplexing. “Barbecue is very regional,” Corsello concedes. “Everyone has their own opinion of what barbecue is and how it should be made.” How would he please people across the barbecue spectrum?

Corsello’s solution was bold. He and his partner Jeff Mauro, of Food Network fame, would serve “creative barbecue.” The approach shocked some traditionalists, Corsello says, so the pair tweaked the menu to pay homage to barbecue’s roots alongside more inventive options. Today, there’s hickory-smoked pulled pork with a classic South Carolina mustard sauce on the menu; but Corsello’s creative barbecue takes top prize with customers. The brand’s best-selling item is Bao to the Pork, a Chinese steamed bun with hickory-smoked pulled pork, pickled daikon relish, and Asian plum barbecue sauce.

How to: Build a Brand

Know what you want to build. “Food, music, and art are the three pillars of our brand. Those are things that come from me and my experiences. We create different tactical marketing strategies and consumer activations around those three pillars, like ‘Back of the House Sessions,’ where we have musicians come in and record.”

Be flexible. “On the restaurant side, we have three different models: an experiential model—a 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot restaurant with a stage and a roof deck; a small ‘captive audience’ model at supermarkets and stadiums; and a midsize ‘outlot’ model in shopping centers.”

Make smart partnerships. “Because of the Food Network, the name Jeff Mauro is well-known in grocery stores, but we also partnered with [former professional athlete] Bo Jackson. He is the face of the brand’s retail line in the outdoor space, like REI or Dick’s. We have Bo Jackson–branded ‘Pig Candy,’ caramelized bacon in different flavor profiles. It’s our hottest product right now.”

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